“You have to learn from your mistakes. When you understand and you know why you’re losing, then you can fix it. This next half of my career I’m going to be the AB that’s about business and about boxing.”

So, AB is now All Business? Or About B——ing us? No way to tell, not yet.

We will get something like proof positive Saturday night, when the 26-year-old hitter, seen as being on a short list to lead the big sled of the sport three years ago, when we contemplated the exit of Floyd Mayweather, takes on Khabib Allahkverdiev.

They will clash in Ohio, in Broners’ home turf of Cincinnati. Friends and neighbors and people who want to latch on to a homegrown product the brag about will see if he meant it, when he said that he knows he was not listeing to wise input from elders…If he’s being honest about wanting to be quieter, let his actions speak for him, instead of that trash-talkery. The wife and kids matter, he told us in that video, in many Instagram posts…

Actually, check that…a prime indicator on whether or not AB has grown, if his maturity bone has solidified, following that loss in his last bout, against Shawn Porter, will come in a couple hours, when he weighs in.

A scale fail will subject him to ridicule and tell us that his walk don’t match his talk, then or now.

But here’s the thing…I root for the kid to make weight…to win fights..to prove that this humility injection is real. Because I have been that sort of goofball, in some ways. I identify with a guy trying to forge an identity, and playing the fool, and thinking things will come a bit easier than they do. In this video, we see a penitent Broner, a humbled Broner, a guy who has taken the barbs to heart and transferred them to his brain. “I’m still the student,” he tells us, noting that he doesn’t have all the answers.The answers are not in the strip clubs, kissing butts, flushing bills down toilets, all that stuff, he’s telling us…I think.

I will know more so if he’s busy with those hands on Saturday, if he digs down, stands in the pocket more, gets in, gets out, throws a proper amount of punches for a guy in his weight class. “The path that I’m on, everybody on my weight class, is in big trouble. Just come watch me Oct. 3 and then come tell what you think of the new Adrien Broner,” he says, in closing. Oh, we shall…

His foe, a hard man from Russia, thinks this talk is clownfoolery. He’s labeled Broner a faker, someone who plays the clown to hide his fear. I cannot say his assessment doesn’t resonate as a strong possibility. At the weigh in, then on fight night, he will see, and we will know, if the new Adrien Broner talk is just that, or a reality which I would applaud. Because he’s got some people I like around him, he’s got kids who need that humble role model to mirror traits that they will need when they graduate from diapers.

Saturday night, we know if AB is About BSing, or A Brand new version of a talented kid who had this reality (maybe) slap him upside the head: talent is great, but without dedication, it can be just half the package of succeeding.

COMMENTS

-deepwater2 :

I bet that most of us on here has acted like a punk at one time or another. A better question,might be, who among us hasn't punched a grandmother in the the head,knocked her out and stole her purse?
Seriously, when they announced this fight, I said it was bad for boxing and I still believe it. It is a setup fight. Both guys lost their last fight and somehow these two boxers are fighting for a belt. The Russian fellow was actually going to retire and has been out of the ring for almost two years. This might be a decent scrap but in no way does it deserve championship status.
TsAH also picked this retired Russian for Broner because he has no punching power.
The Russian is funny for telling the can man that it is a setup fight in his home town and it isn't even sold out yet.
It is what it is.
On a training note,Broner should keep his mouth shut while he throws his two punches at a time because he can break his jaw via a jab. His trainer should tape the guys mouth shut.

-Radam G :

Broner's trainer is bunk. And when it comes to doing things right, he is an arrogant, hot-headed punk. He has continuously let his pug be a POS.
Broner fights with his legs spreaded too far apart, as he does with his lips spreaded apart as if he is being worked on by a dentist instead of scrapping.
Dude is an injury waiting to happen as D2 indicated. Maybe not in this scrap, but down the rode if he keeps scrapping with a wide-open face hole and loose jaws. With 400 fights in the amateurs and pros, you would think that AB would know better. Holla!

-michigan400 :

Until he proves otherwise, hes all B.S. to me. I think he's peaked and will just be a loudmouth gatekeeper.

-Froggy :

Until he proves otherwise, hes all B.S. to me. I think he's peaked and will just be a loudmouth gatekeeper.